“Like the Arctic?”
“That works.”
The snow had done its job and made the world quiet. Momentarily. I awoke to shouting. Something like: “Fuck you!” and “Fuck you, too!” I sat up and looked at the clock; it was about midnight. Morgan awoke as well. She looked at me and tried to orient herself. She sat up.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“I think Howard and David are fighting.”
Then Pamela’s voice split the deeper ones, “Stop it!”
“Shut up,” David shouted.
Then there was a silence.
I stepped to the door and opened it. Gus was standing inside his open door across the hall.
“Sounds bad,” he said.
A door slammed. I wondered if I should go down. If David had just closed himself up in his room, then it might all be over. I certainly didn’t want to hear anyone’s side of anything right then.
“I guess that’s it,” I said.
Gus closed his door and I went back to bed.
“Come in here and get warm,” Morgan said.
We started to kiss. I held Morgan and told her I loved her and I managed to get off her nightshirt. We had quiet, slow sex and then we lay in bed, watching the snow.
About a half-hour later there was a crash, breaking glass. Then a man’s voice cried out.
“Good lord,” I said. I threw back the covers and we got dressed. Gus followed us down the stairs and into the living room. The Scotch bottle was shattered on the floor and Howard was sitting on the sofa picking a shard of glass from his foot.
“What the Sam Hill?” Gus asked.
“I dropped the bottle,” Howard said. “Stepped on some glass.”
“Is it bad?” Pamela asked.
I looked down the hall and saw that David’s door was open and the light was on. “Where’s David?”
“He stormed out of here,” Howard said. “He drank some more whisky and got drunk and just stormed out.”
“When?” I asked.
“Awhile ago,” he said.
Gus went into the kitchen and came back. “His jacket’s in the mud room.”
“Damnit!” I said. “Howard, why didn’t you tell me!”
“So, he ran outside.”
“It’s ten-below out there.” I looked at Morgan. “I’ll look in the barns and you look around the outside of the house.”
“What’s going on?” Howard asked, beginning to understand that the situation was dire. He tried to focus on me through his drunkenness.
“Your son is out there with no coat and no boots, man.” I turned to Gus. “Make some coffee and try to sober them up.”
I pulled on my boots and parka and went out to the barns. I went through both twice and saw no sign of him. As I trotted back to the house I saw that the south gate was swinging with the wind. The gate had been closed. I sprinted back to the house.
Morgan was back inside. She shook her head.
Howard was shaking now, not from the cold, but from the realization of what had happened.
“Gus, I want you and Morgan to take the Jeep and drive up to the road, watch the sides. I’m going to ride south and search that way.”
Morgan was terrified. I kissed her forehead.
By the time I had saddled the App and was traveling south toward the hills, an hour and a half had passed since the slamming of the door, plenty of time for hypothermia to set in, especially with the alcohol in him. I hoped that his youth and strength would help him. I also hoped that he was just yards from the gate and not miles. The beam of my flashlight was useless and so I moved slowly, trying to let my eyes adjust and hoping the horse could see better than I. I called out.
Finally my eyes were serving me and I could see the shapes of trees and tops of ridges. I rode faster. Ice formed in my moustache. I rode a few miles, feeling completely useless and helpless. Then the horse shied. I brought her back around and tried to see what had spooked her. I was in some trees and I shone my light at the bases of them. I dismounted and took a few steps.
There was David. He raised a weak hand into my light. He was stiff with cold. His clothes were wet. I was so scared I was hopping in place, wondering what to do, trying to get my bearings. I looked down the slope and spotted the shape of a fallen tree that I had seen many times; I’d used it as a mile marker. I was about four miles from my house. I was about a mile from the cave. I pulled David up and over my shoulder and eased him over the saddle. I walked the horse to the cave and brought her in out of the snow. The complete darkness made her jumpy and I tried to calm her. I got David down and checked him with my light. He was blue. His respiration was shallow. His clothes were soaked through. I put my hand on his stomach and it was ice cold. I wanted to build a fire, but I had no dry wood. I had to get the wet clothes away from his skin. I took him deeper into the cave, away from the opening and the wind. I took off his shirt and pants and socks and underwear; everything was soaked. Then I took off my clothes that were wet on the outside as well. I needed to use my body heat to warm him up. I needed to use the warmest thing I could find and that was my own 98.6 degrees. I pressed myself against him, rubbing his iced fingers in my hands, putting them in my armpits, blowing on them. He was shivering like no one I had ever seen, his teeth chattering, his eyes rolling back and showing white. “Come on, David, stay with me.” I tried to warm his feet with my own. I thought that if he only lost some toes he’d be lucky. I kept talking to him. “It’s going to be all right, son, hang on.” I put my cheek on his.
He began to mutter things, more sounds than words. I tried to take that as a good sign. David moved his face to in front of me and he pressed his icy lips against mine. It took me a few seconds to realize it was a kiss. I had never been so confused. I let him kiss me, felt his shivering face soften to mine. I just wanted him warm, warmer. I couldn’t pull away; I was trying to save his life.
ELEVEN
I COULD SEE a bit of gray on the wall of the cave. Morning was trying to press inside. David was asleep. Still, I couldn’t see his face, but his breathing was strong. I turned on my light and studied him. I didn’t shine the beam down to his feet; I wasn’t ready for that. His stomach was no longer like ice. The constant temperature of the cave had saved both of us. I dressed and walked toward the entrance. It was early and I could see that the snow had stopped falling. The horse was standing calm just inside the mouth, her head low. I felt bad for having left her not only with the saddle but cinched tight. I released the girth and stroked her neck. I went back to David and woke him. He was groggy, but he sat up. He asked where he was.
“We’re in a cave,” I said.
“A cave?”
I imagined he felt his body and realized he was naked. “John, what’s going on here?”
I turned my light on again. “You got drunk, had a fight with your father, ran out into the snow with sneakers and no jacket, I followed you into the woods, found you, and brought you here to get warm.”
“I’m naked.”
“You were soaked.”
He was quiet while he sat there reconstructing the previous night, the flashlight illuminating the ceiling. “I got drunk,” he said.
“I’ll say.”
“Where am I?” he asked again.
“I brought you into this cave to get warm. It was closer than the house. How do you feel?”
“I don’t know.” I thought I heard him start to cry. He grabbed his shirt from near him on the ground and pulled it over his lap. “My toes hurt.”
“We’ll have to look at them later,” I said. “I’ve got to get you back to the house. You’re going to wear my boots.”